Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #86

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Black Bird

“You Promised”

The finale of Black Bird on Apple TV + was satisfying. It was also sad. I had been cautious to look at any reports about the case, since this is based on a true story of Jimmy Keene and Larry Hall, so I would not know how it turned out. This episode saw Larry draw a map and carve a little bird for each of the girls that he murdered. He sent the map to his brother. I was not sure the reasoning behind that, but Jimmy was able to get a look at the map.

Sadly, the map was not specific enough for Jimmy to get any details outside of a general location and, in the end, none of the girl’s bodies had been recovered.

The final scene between Jimmy and Larry was powerful, as Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser just knocked this scene out of the park. Jimmy tried to convince Larry to let the parents of the victims know where their daughters were buried and Larry did not understand why he would do that. You could see Jimmy slowly reaching the point of breaking from the horrors that Larry was laying out in front of him.

Watching Larry’s face as his evil continued to shine out was a frightening occurrence and showed what kind of actor Paul Walter Hauser could be.

In a fictional tale, ,they would have found the graves of the victims, but, with the true story, those remain a mystery.

I am very pleased with the way Jimmy Keene’s life played out both on screen and in real life. The show added “boxed text” at the end to give us some falling action for this story, including what happened to Jimmy, to his father, Larry and Larry’s brother Gary.

The strength of this series was absolutely the performances of its two lead stars, both who had been nominated for Emmy Awards with Hauser winning Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series.

Next week, we start a new series for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. I decided to watch another limited series that won some Emmys, this time on HBO Max entitled DFT St. Louis featuring Jason Bateman, Linda Cardellini, and David Harbour.

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe S1 E8

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“Spoiler: We’re as Confused as You Are”

Time travel.

It is always confusing. Stuart Fails to Save the Universe is no exception.

They do not stick around in the centaur universe long as Stuart, Denise, Bert, and Kripke went back in time to try and get the other machine from themselves. Only those army people turned out to be themselves after all.

Like I said, always confusing.

Penny was back again this episode as a military lawyer who was prosecuting Stuart, Denise, Bert, and Kripke for desertion after they tried to leave the army world again. Penny wound up getting transported back to the centaur world just before Stuart, Denise, Bert and Kripke left again. Penny seemed to like being a centaur.

We did some timeline jumping and it was fun. It did not feel that significant, but I liked it more than some of the other episodes.

The four of them wound up in a comic book at the end of the show. I am looking forward to that next week, although unless this was just another momentary pause like centaur would was.

Ted Lasso S4 E6

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“Don’t Jump Around Much Anymore“

Be careful when “Jump Around” comes on… especially when you have a bad knee.

Roy went down at a New Year’s Eve party as the House of Pain hit played. He and Jamie Tartt, who was back guest starring, joined in the dance and Roy’s knee let out. It led to Keeley to meet Roy’s new doctor girlfriend, which was crushing to her.

Then a supremely doped up Roy ends up telling the doctor that he loves….Keeley. Roy did not realize he was talking to the doctor… and Keeley heard him, but only up to the point where he said “I love you”. Of course she thought Roy was meaning the doctor. It was an old misunderstanding trope of sitcoms, but there is a reason why it has been used as often as it has. It worked here too.

It did feel weird that we got a New Year’s Eve episode in September, but I forgive that too because it was a solid character episode. We had important moments for not only Roy & Keeley, but also Ted & Ted’s ex-wife, Michelle, Beard, Jamie, and Rebecca and Matthijs. Then, Alice seemed to take some huge steps, but then took giant leaps backward.

Oh, and Tracy Ulman’s character is amazingly weird and downright psychotic.

Some of the episode’s arcs were heartbreaking while other arcs help move the characters forward. The scenes between Ted and Michelle were really sweet. I was afraid they were going to do some alcohol related sex between them, but they stuck with the friendship and Ted feels able to ask someone out on a date.

Rebecca and Matthijs made up in time for midnight as Matthijs arrived at the hospital where Rebecca was hanging out with Jamie after bringing Roy here for his knee. It was a nice resolution, but there was not really much of a story this way. Still, with the other flops of relationships, it was nice to have someone happy.

Boston Legal S2 E6, E7

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“Witches of Mass Destruction”

“Truly, Madly, Deeply”

Two Boston Legal episodes, one that I thought was a typically strong one, and one that I found ridiculous.

“Witches of Mass Destruction” had two main story arcs. One was about the death of a young man in the military whose sister brought a case against the government that during recruitment, the recruiters committed fraud by what the told him. Alan stepped up to take the case despite Denny’s objections and direct orders to drop it. The other arc on this episode was a Christian couple and a Wiccan couple joining forces to sue to stop a Halloween pageant at a public school. This tale, though bizarre, at the heart is about religious freedom and schools keeping religion out. Both of these stories were solid and the military one in particular was extremely emotional.

“Truly, Madly, Deeply,” on the other hand, had two silly arcs and one of Denny Crane. Alan and Brad defended a station manager who fired their clown who was talking about global warming on air. The thing is, the man was attending the court in his clown makeup and Alan was afraid of clowns. It made Alan look bad as he could not do cross or even look in the clown’s direction. The second arc featured Michael McKeon, who I love as an actor, trying to prevent his wife from getting an annulment on grounds that he had sex with a cow. If one of these to stories had been opposed by something more solid, I don’t think that I would have felt as… icky. Then, Denny Crane decided to shoot his client that he had been assigned to defend by the judge in the knees. The client was a child rapist and murderer and Denny did not want to defend him. He tried many other tricks to get off the case and then he ended up shooting him, claiming to be defending himself.

To be fair, all three of these storylines had positive resolutions, but by that time, I had checked out on them.

To me, the second of these episodes only served to make some of the lawyers at Crane, Poole & Schmidt look foolish, in particular Alan and Shirley (who couldn’t defend the cow lover). Denny always looked that way so it was no big deal for his character.

Oh, and the first episode was the one where Denny and Alan famously dressed as flamingos for their firm’s Halloween party (which is an image on the banner above the post).

Boston Legal has shown the ability to go from deadly serious to over-the-top absurdity in a blink of an eye. Episode seven just did not work for me.

The Muppet Show S2 E16-E24

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Guest Star: Cleo Lane

Guest Star: Julie Andrews

Guest Star: Jaye P. Morgan

Guest Star: Peter Sellers

Guest Star: Petula Clark

Guest Star: Bob Hope

Guest Star: Teresa Brewer

Guest Star: John Cleese

Guest: Cloris Leachman

I have to say that the Muppet Show truly got some of the biggest stars of the time to guest star on their show. Bob Hope, Cloris Leachman, Peter Sellers, John Cleese and Julie Andrews were iconic names that, even today, would be recognized by the public as superstars. Sure there was Cleo Lane, who I swear I have never heard of before, but most of this list was remarkable.

That was the power of Jim Henson and the Muppets. Everyone wanted to appear on the show and the entire second season was littered with amazing superstars as guests.

Even with the ton of superstar celebrities, it seemed that Rowlf had plenty of time to play the piano. Rowlf was given time to play a variety of musical pieces, even if they had to speed a few of them up because of time. My favorite one during this block of episodes was when he and Fozzie played the piano. I laughed out loud when Rowlf said to Fozzie that he didn’t know Fozzie played the piano, and Fozzie replied that he did not know it either.

The final episode of season two with Cloris Leachman featured the Muppet Show being taken over by pigs. They locked Kermit, Gonzo and Fozzie in the boiler room and they replaced all the main acts with pigs. Kermit the Pig took over the emceeing, there was a Swedish Chef-pig, Vegetarian’s Hospital among others. Miss Piggy was angry about Kermit being taken away until she found out that she was being featured in the opening number. The call of the stage was just too great for Miss Piggy.

It was nice to see Jaye P. Morgan on the show. I used to love her on the Gong Show, hosted by Chuck Barris, and she was funny. Jay P. Morgan passed away this year, so it was a nice way to honor her. RIP.

The Bob Hope episode was funny as Bob Hope was shown as so busy that he had to go between other gigs and kept returning to the Muppet Show. His “Don’t Fence Me In” song with a sarcastic horse was a highlight of the season.

Season three… here I come.

Lanterns S1 E4

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“The Weenie”

This is an interesting show that has set up some compelling interactions between its main characters. I am not really sure about the true thoughts of Hal Jordan or John Stewart, because they have both had others try to manipulate them into certain actions, and it feels as if they only tell the other pieces and parts of the truth.

Sinestro was trying to manipulate Hal into believing that John was the most dangerous foe he would face, moreso than the potential Manhunter in the little town. Lianna tried to manipulate John into just taking the ring from Hal. She told him to recite the Lantern oath the next time Hal let John use the ring in a practice session. There was something suspicious about Lianna this week, and I am not sure she is the Guardian that she claimed.

So who is the Manhunter? It sure seemed like the show was pointing to Zoe, who was apparently killed by a laser beam from a satellite in space. It was after she had slept with John again, and told him that it would be the last time. She wanted him to leave town. He refused. She then blew up in her car. However, perhaps she sent that laser herself, and she was able to escape the blast because of that. John, we find out later, did not believe that she had been killed.

Hal and John’s trip into the compound of William Macon was not very successful as they got captured with some darkness tech that prevented the use of the ring. Macon kept mentioning his “Benefactor” and Hal and John speculated that the Benefactor was the Manhunter. I am not convinced that is the case. I still think we have something coming in the series to shock us.

We had the mention of Hector Hammond, who was a classic Green Lantern villain, but I am not sure if this Hector Hammond was the real one .

The banter between Hal and John was strong this week and I have been missing the chemistry between these two the last few weeks. This episode was much more of the “buddy cop” type episode that we expected from the show. There are plenty of mysteries going on in the show, including some that we have not touched upon since the first episode.

By the way, what was up with Macon being naked?

And they blew up a cow.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #85

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Black Bird

“The Place I Lie”

The penultimate episode of Black Bird was something else. I have to say that Paul Walter Hauser’s dialogue today gave me chills. His description of his time with the girl Jessica, who we see in flashbacks and who is narrating sections of the episode, was absolutely frightening and made me feel the darkness surrounding Larry. It was a remarkable performance.

I can understand the tears coming from Jimmy at the end of the episode.

It also feels as if the noose is tightening around Jimmy, as it seemed as if more people were eyeballing him, wondering about Jimmy’s turth.

We spent time with  Detectives Miller and MacCauley as they continued their investigation into Larry’s crime. They were able to find Jessica’s bike that was a prized possession, and they had a witness to swear that Larry had given it to her. Apparently, that was not enough to prevent the appeal.

There is definitely a feeling that everyone is racing against a clock. I am concerned for Jimmy’s well being as it feels as if more of the convicts are catching on to what is happening.

The scene with Larry and his psychiatrist was powerful too. It gave us a new look at Larry and how he was feeling at that time. When the psychiatrist had taken over Jimmy’s appointment and tried to get him to think about the mental health of her clients. I thought that was horrendous of her. Why does Larry seem to build such support from some of the authority?

I really wanted to keep watching the final episode, but I shut it off. Next week, the final episode of Black Bird has to be something else.

Silo S3 E10

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“Troy”

During this awesome season finale, my first thought was… I don’t know the time frame happening in this show. I originally thought that the Juliette timeline was really a long way into the future. But… now…

We saw Victor, who was the doctor who helped Daniel back in the flashback timeline, watching the events of Silo 18. Turned out that Victor was the voice of the Algorithm. We see Daniel wake up from a cryogenic sleep, only to be called Troy and not remember anything about his past. We see Daniel’s sister Charlotte, now called Susan, and neither Troy or Susan recognized each other.

I have to say, the people looking generally the same age in the present timeline threw me for a loop. I was not expecting it. I assume they all have some time in cryo to account for it, but it took me a good deal of time trying to decipher the answer.

Big swerve. Camille helped the rebels in silo 18 as she delayed the failsafe just long enough for the crew to cap the pipe that would have delivered the poisonous gas into silo 18. I did not see Camille’s turn coming at all.

Another big swerve. After the failed failsafe attempt, Victor ordered Troy awakened. Before that could happen, Victor ends his own life with a handgun he had hidden in his desk. He left a message for Troy, answering a question Troy had been asking… about a woman he had been seeing in visions as he is awaken. Victor told him her name was Helen.

I did not mention that we saw the massacre of the people of silo 17, and that Troy was the person who ordered the deaths. In one of the hardest scenes of the series, we saw the poison released after the people had left their silo and how the drones would mow them down with weapons.

After all the drama, Juliette led a small group of people including Camille to the door. It was here when Troy spoke using the Algorithm voice and offered Juliette a deal. There would be no further failsafe attempts if the people of silo 18 promise to not try to contact other silos. Juliette accepted, but it was part of her rouse. Juliette has a better idea, something that the people of silo 1 would not expect. Juliette wanted to have an all out assault on silo 1.

So many questions still up in the air. I believe the creators of the show hinted at a connection between Troy/Daniel and Juliette. Could she be the descendent of Daniel and Helen’s baby?

I love how everyone in silo 18 now seems to be working together instead of against each other. About damn time.

I do think an actual timeline of events would help picture all that there is. It seemed as if the massacre that Troy led in this finale was the same one that Solo (Steve Zahn) experienced as a child.

We learned that season four will be the final season of the show and that we do not have to wait long for Silo to return. It showed us clips from season four at the end of the episode and told us that it would release in the summer of 2027. We are under a year away from the final season. I found this season of Silo to be filled with surprises and fantastic character work. Even when it was frustratingly slow at times, it always felt like they had a destination in mind, and the end of season three paid off dramatically.

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe S1 E7

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“Spoiler: Dexy’s Midnight Runners Get a Royalty Payment”

I have not been much of a fan of the last couple of weeks of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe. It had felt lacking of any real story beats and, despite the enjoyable cast, I was not pleased with what they had given us. The episodes felt too short to have any sort of a developed story.

Then episode seven was dropped on HBO Max and I was back in, full bear.

In this episode, the crew wind up in a universe where everyone has telepathy, which is a great hook for some funny comedy bits. It also has one of the best defenses to the power ever imagined… singing Come On Eileen in your head.

Also, one of the funniest lines came from Bert wondering why Kripke’s mind has a lisp.

But the episode had more than that. It had a sudden twist as Stuart and the group run into another Stuart and the group with their own machine. Then a military version of the group showed up. Suddenly, the mystery of the show was slapping us in the face.

I loved this idea that there may be countless Stuarts jumping around the multiverse, all trying to figure out what is happening.

Who started this whole thing going? Why did alternate Stuart come to see Big Bang Stuart only to do the same thing again?

I’m intrigued and excited. There are only three more episodes of the show, and I hope that means that we get some of the mysteries answered. However, since the show has been renewed for a season two, I’m worried that it will be spread out over the years.

Bernadette made a memorable appearance in the Telepathy universe as a tap dance instructor with a bunch of foul-minded little kids.

Ted Lasso S4 E5

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“Riches of Embarrassment”

A fabulous episode of Ted Lasso with a return to form for Ted and the others.

And some Ted Lasso quotes to add to it…

My favorite… “There’s a reason the rearview mirror is smaller than the windshield.” That was a classic Ted Lasso-ism.

I do hate what the show is doing with Keeley and Roy. Having Roy find another woman after Keeley insisted he go on a series of dates is just too cruel. I don’t know if this is leading to a Keeley-Rebecca pairing, but I still want Roy-Keeley to be together. I hope that is the endgame of this relationship section.

Ted and Beard realized that they have a “coach problem,” as Alice’s negativity is isolating her and making her an outcast among the team. There is a definite story here that is unresolved and I am here for it. I was shocked when Ted told Alice that he was suspending her for a game so she could figure out what was going on with her. He made a reference to Nate without mentioning his name.

Ted Lasso’s positivity is just off the charts and he does a whole halftime speech on embarrassment that is just so great that it carried the entire episode.

However, drunk Rebecca is right up there too.

The match against Chelsea was well done and Richmond’s defeat felt right. They fought back to tie after being down 2-0 at half when Ted’s inspirational message on embarrassment brought them out of the tizzy. However, the sudden defeat did feel like it was right for the overall narrative of the show.

This was an episode that reminded me of how much I wish I was like Ted Lasso. He is such an awesome model to inspire to.

Oh, and Beard is hilarious. What was up with that play?

Lanterns S1 E3

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“OutKast”

Episode three of DC Studios’ Lantern spends the entire episode in a flashback as we learn all about the path John Stewart took to become the trainee of Hal Jordan.

Who knew that John Stewart had overbearing stage parents. We learn that John’s father was rejected as a potential Lantern, and that the Guardian (Laura Linney) came to apologize and ended up having coffee with John’s mother Bernadette. The fact that the Guardian told her that her baby, John, could be a choice for a Lantern in the future. With that, she became obsessed with training John to become a Lantern.

The father John joined in and they were crazy. Young John does a tremendous job with everything that they make him do, even though he may be putting on a good face.

I have to say that the switch from crazy parents to not crazy and helping John get into the art school he wanted to go.

We get the details about what John may think about Hal. He definitely had some issues with Hal Jordan prior to becoming his trainee.

The interview with Laura Linney was wonderful and written brilliantly. I love how it was able to show parts of the character of John Stewart through their dialogue.

I enjoyed this flashback episode that gives us a deeper understanding of John Stewart.

Boston Legal S2 E1, E2, E3, E4, E5

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“The Black Widow”

“Schadenfreude”

“Finding Nemmo”

“A Whiff and a Prayer”

“Men to Boys”

The start of season two was a strange one. At the end of season one, they gave a preview for the next episode which dealt with Lori’s sexual harassment and an discomfort in the workplace. Then, in episode one there was no sign of these scenes and we do not see Lori again until a brief moment in episode four.

The scenes showed up in episode five, which was the end of Lori’s run on the show.

You could tell that Boston Legal had gone in a different direction. We had new characters such as Denise Bauer played by Julie Bowen, Sara Holt, played by Ryan Michelle Bathe, and Garrett Wells, played by Justin Mentell.

This season had one of my favorite episodes of the whole series, which was when Denny took Alan to Nemmo Bay in Canada to fly fish. Their interactions in the room after the day of fishing was hilarious. It had one of my favorite low-brow jokes of all time when Denny and Alan are going to sleep in their room and Denny says, “Don’t take this personal” and then lets out a fart. I am not a fart joke fan, but that was unbelievably funny.

We also have the storyline of Bernard come to a close at the end of a skillet by the hand of Betty White’s Katherine Piper. Katherine was afraid that Bernard, who had killed his mother and a neighbor at the end of the first season, was going to kill again. He had been talking about leaving clues for the police like the BTK Killer. She wound up hitting him with the skillet that he had used to kill his victims. In an allusion to Picket Fences (also a David E. Kelly show), she put the body of Bernard in a icebox.

Alan was able to get a “not guilty” verdict for Katherine, though she wound up getting “Schmidt-canned” because of the whole thing.

The Denny-Alan relationship was explored more in these first five episodes of season 2. They build the relationship more than they have last season and this central relationship is vital to the show. And we learn that Alan find the pig noises Denny makes when sleeping to be soothing.

Tara broke up with Alan and she left the firm, being one more of the changes to the cast.

This first five episodes were excellent and are going to build on a long season of 27 episodes.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #84

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Black Bird

“WhatsHerName“

What a great hour of television episode four of Black Bird was. There were two or three times when it literally gave me chills. Paul Walter Hauser was outstanding as Larry, reflecting back upon his childhood with Jimmy.

Both men had terrible childhoods, even though Jimmy’s started out looking great. Playing catch with his father in the park, looking forward to a great life, even to the NFL. It would not be.

The dialogue of this episode was outstanding and did so much of the heavy lifting for these two characters. Hauser’s delivery was spot on and I totally bought him as a unbalanced serial killer. However, there were so many moments where you almost related to or wanted to like Larry. Every time it got too close to feeling for him, Hauser would deliver a line that shocked you right back into the knowledge that this guy is a vicious killer.

The flashbacks were very effective, especially the ones with Larry. I was not as much of a fan of Jimmy’s flashbacks, especially with the time where his mother’s new boyfriend broke Jimmy’s ribs. The actor they cast for that young Jimmy just did not feel like someone who would grow into Taron Egerton. That pulled me out of that scene which does a lot to inform us on the man Jimmy would become and how he would think of women.

This dialogue-heavy episode followed on opening where there was a prison riot that was exceptionally violent. Larry had told Jimmy that it was “Riot Quiet” around the prison, foreshadowing the events of the violence. The riot led to Larry being placed in charge of the clean-up crew in the cafeteria section of the prison, where the main part of the riot took place. Larry showed his capabilities of cleaning, showing how knowledgeable he was in the area. He clearly knew how to remove blood stains and the such.

Again, every time you thought maybe Larry wasn’t as horrible as you thought, suddenly he was saying something or making a gesture that reminded you how evil this guy was.

Two more episodes of this compelling drama and I am anxious to find out what happens. I am trying to ignore my inclinations to look up the true story and see how things played out in real life. I am curious, but I am dedicating myself to no spoilers.

Dark Matter S2 E1

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“A Quiet Life”

Dark Matter started their second season off with episode one on Apple TV. I have to say, it felt like years since the first season debuted. I was thinking three years maybe. When I looked at the debut date, it was May 8, 2024, which was nowhere near as long ago than I thought. It was worse yet, since I did not watch Dark Matter when it was released. I posted my reviews of season one in February of 2025. That is just a year and a half ago. It felt like it was way longer ago than that. It blew my mind.

So I had a hard time getting back into this show. The show has a complex storyline and a lot going on and it was tough to remember the ins and outs of this show.

Joel Edgerton starred as Jason. Jennifer Connelly played Daniela. They do a great job with their characters. By the end of the episode, I felt a little more confident about the story. They went through a recap in the story of Jason 1 and Jason 2, which I honestly had not remembered. But they set up the story arc for the season well.

However, I did not remember what the last image was meant to be, when Jason stepped out and realized that he was in a universe he had been in before. Was that the universe that he dropped his friend off in? Not sure.

I wonder how I will feel about the season as it progresses. I did enjoy the first season, so I hope I will enjoy the second season too.

Silo S3 E9

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“Farewell”

Holy Shit.

I knew something was going to happen, but I did not expect there to be a mushroom cloud.

And now I wonder… did the people behind the creation of the silos… know the bomb was going to be dropped. I even considered myself… did they set off the explosion themselves? Otherwise, it sure feels like a ton of coincidence happening here.

The penultimate episode of season three was explosive in many ways besides the huge nuclear bomb that goes off at the end.

How does Bernard survive this time? Could it be that we finally saw the end of the road for Tim Robbins? Bernard, who turned himself in as part of the plan, is sent out of the silo to clean, without a suit. We see his nose start to bleed and he slumped next to the tree. I have no idea how he could have survived. I have a feeling Bernard is now gone.

Bernard’s cleaning was meant to be a distraction as bombs were going off in the silo in an attempt to pinch off the poison. We left the episode as Camille was running out of the cafeteria in an attempt to prevent the revolt.

I wondered last week what was next for Daniel and Helen. I did not know they were together and then Helen was pregnant. When the bomb went off, Daniel was pulled into silo 1 and Helen was taken into silo 17. Could Helen give birth to a baby that is a descendent of someone we know?

The Algorithm is being set up to being a real person and not a machine. I think there is a good chance that that voice is Daniel… though I have no idea how that would happen.

This was a great episode and it sets up next week’s season 3 finale beautifully.